My Home Ideas

Special Offers

Be the first to know about This Old House contests, sweepstakes, and events and receive special offers and promotions from your favorite home improvement brands. We'll even send you regular reminders to enter our sweepstakes.

Adding window boxes, identifying a cordless drill holder, and how to install sod… more

Episode #305

Original Air Date: Week of November 1, 2004

General contractor Tom Silva shows host Kevin O'Connor how to remove bolts and screws with stripped or damaged heads. Landscape contractor Roger Cook visits homeowner Lauren Speisman of Waltham, Massachusetts, to help create an edge along a concrete walkway using jumbo cobblestones. Back in the loft, Tom, Roger, Kevin, and plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey ask "What is it?" as they identify unknown objects. Then Tom heads to Wenham, Massachusetts, to help homeowner Francine Molay jack up the roof of her front porch and fix a rotting post.

Screw and Bolt ExtractorsTom and Richard showed some different methods and products used for removing screws or bolts with damaged heads. First, Tom used a pair of locking pliers to remove a screw with a stripped head. He showed how to pre-drill a hole in a screw with a stripped head and then remove it with a screw extractor. Tom also showed a screw remover that doesn't require drilling and works with a series of small cutting heads. He then showed a two-piece extractor that grabs the shank of a bolt with a broken head to remove it.

Cobblestone EdgingRoger showed a homeowner how to install cobblestone edging along a concrete walkway. Roger dug a trench for the stones and then used a string line and wooden stakes to mark the finished height of the cobblestones. He mixed up several batches of concrete to the consistency of peanut butter and shoveled it into the trench, then set the cobblestones into the concrete and smoothed off the concrete with a trowel. Roger also used a rubber mallet to tap the cobblestones down into the concrete to get the finished height.

Rotting Porch PostTom helps a homeowner replace a section of rotting post on her front porch. First, he removed the old trim using a reciprocating saw. He then jacked up the porch roof using bracing made of framing lumber. Tom then used a piece of pressure-treated wood as a filler piece where the bottom of the post touches the masonry porch and used construction adhesive to glue it. He then replaced a piece of rotted trim with solid PVC. Back in the loft, Tom also showed a galvanized steel fastener for separating wooden porch posts from masonry.